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Re: Advanced Placement Physics

I was not trying to cast aspersions on any particular teacher, but the fact
remains that the demands of the AP test tend to produce students who are
weak conceptually. As has been confirmed at many universities, the ability
to grind out problems is not necessarily the best indicator of conceptual
understanding. The report in AJP PER showed that students at RPI had about
20% gain on the FCI and the F&M conceptual evaluation in the conventional
course. Does anyone on the list who teaches AP have any Hake gain scores
and absolute FCI or F&M scores that they can report for first vs second year
students?

As I do not teach AP, or I would be happy to produce the results myself. I
have worked some with a physics AP teacher who has confirmed some of my
observations.

John M. Clement
St. Pius X HS


PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu writes:
A first year AP physics unfortunately tends to lead to weak understanding
of
the concepts. It should only be a second year course. A good first year
interactive engagement course is highly recommended. I do know of one
person who is using Workshop Physics for an AP course, but I do not know
if
it is a first or second year course. A good pairing would be Workshop
Physics and Workshop Calculus. Both of these have Priscilla Laws as one
of
the authors.

There are schools which do teach AP as a first year course, but that is
extremely unwise.

I agree whole-heartedly that conceptual development is essential in any
science course. The success of the program relies on the philosophy and
skill of the teacher and the abilities of the students. Some learn inspite
of us, others because of our common work. More than half of my AP
students are 1st year. I see little difference in the achievement of the
1st and 2nd year students.

If the course is taught simply as a set of algorythms it is not serving
the student well whether they are in their nth year (n>1) or not.

Ken Fox
AP/IB Physics Teacher
Smoky Hill High School
Aurora, CO